Page 76 of The Lovers (Echoes from the Past #1)

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The days settled into a pleasant routine.

The house was far enough from the town to afford privacy, and there were no servants, save Mistress Benford, Peg, and Pete the stable boy, who had little to do since Edward had taken the carriage and horses.

Mercy took to her lessons like fish to water, but what surprised Elise was how much time she spent in the kitchen.

Mercy liked to cook, and she was eager to learn how to make new dishes.

“Me mam never ’ad much use for cooking,” Mercy told Elise after one of their lessons. “She were always too busy taking care of us and the ’ouse to do much more than make a stew or a pot of pottage. Oh, we always ’ad enough to eat, mind ye, but there wasn’t much in the way of variety.”

“And what would you like to cook?” Elise asked, amused.

“I’d like to make pies and pastries, and roast a swan. Me da told me once that at court, they roast whole swans and then replace the feathers and insert rubies instead of eyes before presenting the birds to the king and ’is courtiers.”

Mercy looked enthralled with the idea, her eyes sparkling with the wonder of it. “And they make other grand dishes too, using spun sugar and marzipan. ’Ave you ever seen such things?”

“Lord Asher had some fantastical dishes at our wedding feast. He’d hired one of the palace cooks to see to the preparations. There was a concoction of sugared fruit and nuts decorated to look like a blooming rose bush with a butterfly on each bloom. It was too lovely to eat. ”

“I wish I could ’ave seen that,” Mercy said sadly. “I always dream of getting out of Blackfriars and living at the palace. If God sees fit to take me family, it’s because I’d wished to leave them,” Mercy whispered, her eyes huge with regret.

“Mercy, your desire to better your lot has nothing to do with what’s happening in the city.

It’s no more your fault than yesterday’s rain or tomorrow’s drought.

One little girl’s dream cannot bring about the death of her family, and I won’t stand for you blaming yourself. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming.”

Mercy nodded, somewhat appeased. “Thank you, me lady. Ye are very kind. I can see why Uncle James is so taken with ye. Me mam always said to put me silly notions out of me foolish head.”

She would , Elise thought. She’d only met Molly once, but she got the impression that the woman didn’t hold with sentiment or wild-goose chases.

Molly seemed pragmatic to a fault, possibly a trait she’d inherited from her estranged father.

Elise was sure that Molly loved her children fiercely, but she wanted them to find satisfaction in the here and now, not in indulging in daydreams of things that could never be.

Well, perhaps Elise could do something for Mercy, something that would help her at least try to reach for her dreams.